Who Are the Islamic Jihad Commanders Who Were Eliminated?

At 2 AM Tuesday, 3 leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, were killed simultaneously in their homes in separate areas of the Gaza Strip. They were Jahed Ahnam, Khalil Al-Bahtini, and Terek Az Aldin.

Jahed Ahnam, 62, was considered one of the most prominent leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades, and one of the most wanted Jihad members since the second intifada of 2000. Ghannam supervised many military operations during the intifada, alongside Muhammad Sheikh Khalil, one of the brigades’ leaders, killing many Israeli soldiers and civilians in the Gaza Strip. Khalil was killed in an IAF airstrike in 2007. Ahnam’s brother Ziyad, also his companion in carrying out Jihad operations, was killed in 2007. Many of Ahnam’s nephews were killed in terror operations, as well as by IDF assassinations.

Ahnam supervised the development of missile manufacturing by the Al-Quds Brigades, together with another leader, Khaled Mansour, who was killed in August 2022. The IDF attempted several times in the past to eliminate Ahnam, most recently in May 2021.

Ahnam was in a direct relationship with the Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad, Ziyad Al-Nakhala, and Akram Al-Ajouri, the Commander-in-Chief of the Al-Quds Brigades. He came under IAF bombing in 2019, in which Commander Bahaa Abu al-Ata was eliminated.

Khalil al-Bahtini, 44, was also considered one of the most prominent leaders of the al-Quds Brigades, and his star shone as a political activist in the movement. He was in direct relationships with many of the Brigades’ leaders during the start of the 2000 “Al-Aqsa Intifada,” including Bashir al-Dabash, Muqlad Hamid, and Aziz al-Shami. His activity increased after the 2005 expulsion of Gush Katif.

Al-Bahtini formed many active groups within the Al-Quds Brigades, especially those that supervise the development of missiles and was in direct relationship with Bahaa Abu Al-Atta, who was assassinated in 2019, and with Tayseer Al-Ja’bari and Khaled Mansour, who were assassinated last August.

After the elimination of Al-Jabari, l-Bahtini supervised the Al-Quds Brigades in the northern region of the Gaza Strip and was responsible for firing rockets from that area.

Terek Az Aldin was considered one of the most prominent leaders of the Islamic Jihad in Jenin, in northern Samaria, and his star shone brighter after his release from Israeli prison in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.

Az Aldin suffered from a serious health problem and received treatment outside the Gaza Strip, until he recovered and returned to the Strip, to be appointed first as a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Jihad in 2018, and a few months later to the next session of the political bureau.

Israel’s security apparatus believed Az Aldin was responsible for Islamic Jihad terrorist activity in Judea and Samaria, controlling the terror attacks there, as well as transferring funds and weapons, especially to the Jenin Al-Quds Brigade.